Samhain Thanksgiving Moon
0. The weather system says the temperature is 0. That is, an absence of temperature. A naught. A negation of temperature. Not really, though. Just an arbitrary spot on a continuum from high molecular activity to low. Significant. Certainly. Around here folks begin to notice a chill out. We have our ways. When it gets into the 90’s, we start complaining about the heat. Lowdown, not until it gets well below zero and then only if there’s a wind.
Our body stays in the 98.6 degree range, has to for us to stay alive. In the language of pharmaceuticals, we can stand excursions above and below that mark, but not much. More down than up. In a way. Here’s aninteresting piece: clinically hypothermia occurs when the core temperature falls below 35°C (95°F) – that’s not much of a drop. As this website says, we’re tropical creatures, we humans, not meant to be outside in the cold for long, or even short, periods of time.
Even so. We can and do adapt. Some of us to the point of finding pleasure in the cold; others merely learning to tolerate it. A winter species here in Minnesota, the snowbird, leaves town when the harshest weather hits, often January and February. Some leave just for February because that time, if you don’t enjoy it, it can make you barking mad. Cabin fever sets in.
Kate and I are not among those folk. On occasion when it gets hot we go north. Sort of the opposite idea.